Goa as permanent IFFI destination comes with a cinematic bonus

Panaji: Goa's official elevation to a permanent venue for the annual International Film Festival of India (IFFI) comes with a cinematic bonus. For a state which has just one premium multiplex facility maintained by INOX in the capital, the formal announcement of the beach state as the permanent home for India's top official film festival spells a bonanza for film buffs.

According to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, the Goa government is likely to unveil a liberal policy to promote setting up of multiplexes and cinema halls in the state, known more for its love for theatre, especially tiatrs, a Konkani genre.

"Basically it will be a policy to encourage more multiplexes and cinema halls in the state," claimed Parrikar, who also announced plans to upgrade INOX , a facility built by the state government in 2003 and operated on lease by the multiplex giant.

The festival was first shifted to Goa, during the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime in 2004, after its reputation as a festival traveling to different Indian cities, officials claim, did the intellectual property more harm than good.

While the festival has been held in Goa every successive year after 2003, it was only an ad-hoc arrangement between the state and the central authorities renewed every year, before being formalized on Wednesday.

IFFI also indirectly gave Goa its first multiplex amid allegations of corruption leveled against Parrikar by the Congress, which later filed a graft complaint with Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)in 2004. Parrikar, who had sworn never to visit INOX until his name was cleared of the charge, was later granted a clean chit by the federal agency in 2011.

But the permanent move down south could result in a few more movie-viewing facilities, which are being planned at a Film Festival Secretariat, which is also being conceived.

"One requirement will be setting up of permanent Film Festival Secretariat. We are in process of identifying various places. The film festival complex will consist of an auditorium-cum-cinema hall. This is not finalized. There will be a multiplex with five or six screens," the Chief Minister said.

Movie buffs, meanwhile, are reveling in the prospects of a wider range of options for viewing movies.

"The number of IFFI delegates vis-a-vis the number of seats available in a cinema hall right now doesn't tally. Many people miss out on screenings or make requests for re-screening, thereby restricting the number of films featured at the festival and that is quite a dampener," says Yulette Coutinho, an IFFI delegate who also runs a local film screening club.

Janhavi Savaikar, a mass communications lecturer in Panaji, says that while watching films in a multiplex is fun, the government could also look at upgrading existing facilities owned and operated by local businessmen.

The IFFI is held every November and is one of the biggest annual events organized in the state.